One Night In Rootville
by Genkibat
Summary: After Asellus defeats Orlouge and takes over Facinaturu as it's half-mystic leader, all is well in the region of eternal night... or is it? One soul is discontent, and only one person can ease his pain. (OLD. UPDATED VERSON COMING SOON.)


One Night In Rootville  
  
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Chateau Aguille loomed over the small village of Rootville as always, looking much like a dead tree. It was quite large, and always had a forbidding and frightening, yet somehow fascinating aura to it. It was always night in the region of Facinaturu, so light never shone on the castle or Rootville. Facinaturu was the home of mystics, and those who lived in other regions would often scare their children into staying at home at night by telling them that if they left the house, a mystic out for a companion would take them away to Rootville, or worse, Chateau Aguille, and they would never be heard from again.   
This was the case of Asellus. A young girl just out to go run an errand for her aunt. She ended up being hit by the carriage of Lord Orlouge, and becoming the 'prince' of Facinaturu, and half-mystic.   
After a long and tiring journey to find out who she really was, she now resided in Chateau Aguille with the other mystics.   
Down in Rootville, people still lived normally. What could pass as normal, anyway. There were very few people living there, and the ones who did live there still looked at Orlouge as their leader at the moment. He had so long been the ruler of Facinaturu.  
'Had' being the working term.  
Asellus defeated Orlouge. She destroyed his reign of terror and got revenge on him for taking her human life from her.   
And for taking away the first person Asellus ever loved, one of the only people who ever understood her. One of her only true friends.   
Princess White Rose.   
Orlouge had sent Asellus, White Rose, and the rest of her rag-tag party of mystics and humans to the Dark Labyrinth. There was no way out except for a sacrifice. Princess White Rose had sacrificed her freedom -her LIFE- so that Asellus could be free and continue her quest, and, eventually, defeat Orlouge and take his place.   
Asellus still never forgave Orlouge for that. And even with the companionship of a once human girl, Gina, now Lady Asellus's first and only Princess, whom she loved and is loved by, she still never forgot White Rose.   
But this story is not about White Rose, nor Asellus. It is about one of the other residents of Chateau Aguille. He's sometimes known as The Black Wing. Ildon, the head advisor and right-hand-man to Lady Asellus.  
He was with her on the quest to overthrow Orlouge. He was out for revenge, as well. Lord Orlouge's head advisor, Ciato, has sucked the soul out of someone very dear to him. The mystic, Rastaban, still lived, but he was without a soul. Ildon was the one who delivered the finishing blow to Ciato in the battle. With Ciato dead, Rastaban's soul was able to return to him.   
And now, one hundred years later, Ildon sat at a window in the castle. His leg hanging out of it as he leaned against the frame. This had become a past time of his. He would watch the sky, searching in vain for any stars out.   
There are no stars in Facinaturu.   
But he still watched, and waited. He brushed some of his dark neonish green hair back from his face, then sighed. For the last hundred years, he had been doing exactly this. Life was beginning to bore him. He had become very unhappy with his life for more then one reason.  
\\Time passes slowly in Facinaturu...\\ he thought, hopping from the window and into the castle walls once more.   
Ildon, come to the throne room as soon as you get a chance. Said the concerned voice of Lady Asellus in his mind. Ildon headed straight for the throne room, wondering what was going on.   
  
Ildon bowed at Lady Asellus's throne.  
"I am here, my lady. You sounded concerned, may I ask why you summoned me?" He asked with the same formality that he used with Orlouge. Asellus's brow creased with concern and frustration.  
"Ildon, I've been telling you this for the past fifty years now. You don't have to be so formal with me, especially after all we went through. We saved Facinaturu together, remember? I would think you'd be a little more easy around me..." She said.   
Ildon has just gotten to the throne room a few minutes ago. Lady Asellus was on the large crimson velvet cushioned throne, the smaller one -which belonged to princess Gina- was empty. Ildon found this odd, being that Gina and Asellus were practically inseparable most of the time.   
He merely nodded, his features barely visible with the bad lighting of the throne room. True, it was lit more then most of the other castle rooms, but this was a dark place. Lights were scarce here.   
"Ildon, what's wrong?"  
Ildon examined the wine red carped that he was kneeling on, trying to think of an appropriate answer that would not get him in too much trouble, and please Lady Asellus enough to keep her from bothering him more.   
He heard the light click of Asellus's boots against the steps, and kept his eyes glued to the ground as she kneeled in front of him, placing a hand on his head.  
"Ildon, please. You can tell me anything." she said.   
"...I am unhappy. Now, if that is all, I shall be going." he said, standing, Asellus reached out to him.  
"Ildon, wait!" she yelled, but Ildon was already gone. He teleported out before he had been dismissed. A very unwise thing to do. Such actions would have gotten him killed if Asellus were like Orlouge. She wasn't, though. She walked back up to her throne and sat down with a heavy sigh, propping up her arm on the chair arm, and resting chin in her hand.  
"...Asellus...?" Gina's quiet voice called out, Asellus looked over to the doorway, where she was standing. Asellus's face softened a little and she smiled at Gina.  
"Yes, love? Do you need anything?" she asked. Gina blushed a little.   
"No... I heard what happened, though." she looked down. "He went to the bar, you know... maybe you could send Rastaban after him to see what's wrong?"  
"...I never thought of that... Thank you, Gina. Come, sit with me. I get lonely here all by myself."  
  
Down at the bar in Rootville, all was quiet. There was seldom anyone there, most of the time the person who owned the place, whoever they were, wasn't even there. Ildon had been coming there more and more often. Mainly because it got him out of the castle. He never got drunk, but whenever he stayed the night in the room upstairs instead of going back to the castle, he had an excuse. Sometimes a pilot would be there, but other then that, Ildon was usually alone there. The dull lights gave the room an almost yellowish glow. The bottles on the counter reflected the light, each becoming a small lamp of it's own.  
The old tables creaked a little when moved. The stools were sturdy enough, though. Once again, except for Ildon, the place was empty. All that was there to accompany him were the bottles of liquor and the note tacked to the steps upstairs, merely saying to clean up after yourself when you're done.   
Ildon sat at the table, brooding, a small shot-glass of vodka sitting in front of him. Untouched. After that incident in Yorkland while they were trying to get the Grail Card, he never really drank that much.   
He nearly jumped a foot in the air when he felt a hand rest on his shoulder. He turned quickly, only to come face to face with a familiar sea-green haired mystic.  
"Hey, what's wrong, Ildon? You look kind of down."  
"Never sneak up on me like that again, Rastaban. Next time I won't hesitate to shoot first then check to see who it was."  
Rastaban flashed him a charming smile, then sat down next to him.   
"So, what's wrong?" he asked.  
"Everyone is asking me that, and frankly I'm getting sick of it. Am I sending out some kind of signal asking for people to pity me?"  
"Well, when you look unhappy, people think that you're unhappy, and want to help. By the way, are you drinking that?"  
Ildon sighed and pushed the shot glass over to Rasta who downed it. "I AM unhappy, but I can deal with it just fine on my own. I don't need anyone's help."  
"Sure, you SAY that, but do you honestly expect us to believe you?" Rastaban said with a slight laugh. "Lady Asellus has practically got all Chateau Aguille turned upside down to try and figure out why you're in such a sour mood. Crap, what the hell did they put in this vodka? Rat-poison?"  
"No, I distinctly remember Ciato drinking that at one time, and he only died when we killed him." Ildon said, a small, almost unnoticeable smile flashed across his face for a second. That was all the sign Rastaban needed.   
He was off of his stool and pinning Ildon to the floor before Ildon's mind could even register that he got up. Ildon blinked at him.  
"Ha! Got you!" Rastaban said with a smile. Ildon glared.  
"Rasta, get off me."  
"Hmm... no. You deserve to be punished for being so slow."  
"Rasta, I'm serious. Please. Get off me." Ildon was uncomfortable with Rastaban being so close to him. A long time ago, probably long before Lady Asellus was even born into her human life, Ildon and Rastaban had been lovers. They had to keep it a secret, though. Orlouge didn't like the idea of two of his servants being involved with each other. He said it was 'unprofessional', but they knew that by 'unprofessional', he meant 'No one gets any in this castle except for me.'  
So they kept their secret. Very well, too. Until one day that Orlouge summoned them to the throne room. A lot of other important mystics were there, including Silence, named for his shy attitude, and Nusaken, another high-ranking mystic.   
As it turned out, Silence and Nusaken had been with each other for a long time. They had been keeping it a secret, just like Ildon and Rastaban had. But they had gotten caught. Orlouge stripped Silence of his hardly used, yet beautiful voice, and banished him. Ildon thought the punishment was a bit harsh, then realized that he was taking the brunt of two punishments. Orlouge couldn't afford to do much to Nusaken. All he could to was drop his rank some and be mean to him. Meaner then he already was, anyway.  
Three days later, Nusaken and all his belongings were gone.  
It was Ildon who had called him and Rastaban's relationship to a halt after that. He had let his fear get the best of him, and still regretted it. But now they were under Lady Asellus's rule. Would she forbid them like Orlouge did?   
Ildon pushed Rastaban off of him and stood up.   
"Quit playing around." he said, and began to walk up the stairs to the bedroom, holding on to that futile hope Rastaban wouldn't follow him.  
Rasta did follow him, of course.   
"So THIS is where you stay when you don't go to back to the castle..." he said, looking around. The room was small. All that was in it was a one-person bed and a nightstand with a small lamp on it. The window showed Chateau Aguille in the distance, Ildon never really knew how frightening it could look except when he wasn't in it. "Pretty nice. Kinda small, but I guess one can't have everything..." Rastaban flopped down on the bed. "Ohh... comfortable."  
"Rasta, go away." Ildon didn't want to outright say it, but he saw no other choice. It was times like these that he just wanted to be alone. Rasta didn't seem to see that.  
"Sorry, but I'm staying with you until I can cheer you up."  
"There's nothing you can do. Just go." Ildon still stood at the door, giving Rasta a deadpan look. Rastaban grinned.  
"Oh reeeeeeally....." He said, standing. Rastaban walked over to Ildon. "Want to make a bet on that?" Ildon raised an eyebrow, not sure what Rastaban was up to. He sighed.  
"Fine. If you can't cheer me up in the next ten minutes, then you have to leave me alone. For good." Ildon crossed his arms. Rastaban's smile faded.   
"Alright." He said, with a very serious look on his face. "If I can cheer you up in the next ten minutes, then you have to go apologize to Asellus for being such a gloomy jerk."  
"Deal."   
Ildon held out his hand, intending for them to shake on the deal, but Rastaban had other ideas. He took Ildon's hand, then pulled him in to an embrace and sealed Ildon's lips with his own.   
Ildon froze. He couldn't move. Couldn't think. After about two minutes, he also realized that he couldn't breathe, either.   
Ildon struggled and when Rastaban let go of him he fell to the floor, trying to catch his breath. He looked up at Rastaban and glared.   
"JEEZUS, RASTA! What the hell was that for?!"  
"I was trying to cheer you up." Rasta said, kneeling next to where Ildon was on the floor.   
"What in the name of Orlouge gave you the idea that THAT would cheer me up?!" Ildon yelled, "Were you possessed by some kind of demon of stupidity?!" Ildon couldn't control what he was saying. He just started letting it all out and couldn't stop. "I still love you, don't you get it?! I hate it when you tease my like this! I know I dumped you and I'll never have a chance with you again, so please JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!!"  
For the next five minutes Ildon yelled about everything he had hated that had happened since then. The time Rastaban had been with Zozma for a short while, the time that Orlouge sent Rastaban on a dangerous mission that he only had a small chance to survive, everything up to when Ciato had taken his soul.   
Afterwards, Ildon just sat there, glaring at Rastaban. Rastaban looked back at him expressionless.  
"Aren't you going to say anything?" Ildon asked quietly.   
"...Feel better?"  
"..."  
Rastaban pulled Ildon into another embrace and stroked his hair gently.   
"...You know..." he said with a slight laugh, "I never really slept with Zozma. That whole 'Relationship' we had was a ploy to get you jealous enough to take me back. I asked him to help me out and he agreed... I cried for days when it didn't work, because I thought I had finally lost you. I didn't know you still loved me..."  
Ildon remained silent, but reached out and held onto Rastaban.  
"...Stay here with me for the night." He whispered. Rastaban smiled.  
"I was planning on doing just that." Rastaban stood and pulled Ildon up with him. He began removing his clothing, and for a second, Ildon just stared. How long had it been since they'd actually done this? A small laugh from Rastaban snapped Ildon out of it.  
Ildon quickly began removing his cloths as he looked out the window at the castle, hoping that they wouldn't miss him and Rastaban tonight. He turned when he heard another laugh coming from Rastaban.  
"Jeesus, at least keep some pants on..." Rasta said, taking off his boots, leaving him in just trousers. Ildon blinked.  
"But... don't you want to...?" He trailed off, trying to keep the hint that HE wanted to out of his voice.   
"Not tonight. It's your punishment for leaving me all those years ago." Rastaban said, dragging Ildon into the small bed and laying behind him, one arm wrapped around his waist while the other played with his hair. "Ugh... this is SO much better then those coffins we sleep in. I don't feel like my back it turning to wood..."  
Ildon laughed. Quietly and almost unnoticeable, like his smiles, but Rasta still caught it.   
Rasta gave Ildon a kiss on the cheek and lay down in the bed, hugging him.  
"Goodnight, Ildon. I love you."  
"Goodnight, Rasta... I love you too.  



End file.
